


Complications

by Avirra



Series: An Unholy Alliance [19]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Mirror Universe
Genre: Gen, Mirror Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-23 22:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avirra/pseuds/Avirra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirk leaves for a seven week training mission and returns to find McCoy is not as he left him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Complications

**Author's Note:**

> As a note, in my version of the Mirror-verse, the emphasis is on political maneuvering and manipulation rather than on violence and sex - though violence and sex are both certainly have their places (nothing overly graphic). Think in terms of more Machiavelli and less Caligula. Some cursing is also present.

As Kirk had expected, Chekov accepted the job as McCoy's bodyguard even though it wasn't really a paying job. To Chekov, knowing McCoy's position in regards to Doctor Puri was enough for him to see that there were tangible rewards possible in the future from the association.

When the time came for Kirk to go off for his first extended mission, he was relatively comfortable with how things were. McCoy and Chekov really weren't comfortable with one another, but then again, they didn't need to be. Chekov just needed to watch McCoy's back and McCoy just needed to let him.

It was almost seven weeks before the Year Two Command track cadets returned. Those that had survived the experience. Kirk had not only survived, but thrived. His reputation among his own career track was solidly fixed now after a blatant attack by two fellow cadets ended with the two dead and Kirk only slightly injured. His ability to tend to his own wounds with the small kit that McCoy had insisted he take with him only increased his stature. He made a mental note to properly thank McCoy for that.

All in all, Kirk was feeling very pleased with himself and the world in general until he stepped off of the transport shuttle and saw Gaila waiting for him. Normally, she would be a welcome sight, but not when she was wearing a worried expression. He waited impatiently until the class was dismissed, then hurried over to where she was standing.

"It's good to have you back, Jim."

"Don't bullshit me, Gaila. That's not a 'welcome back' look on your face. What happened?"

One green hand ran through her red curls as she couldn't quite meet Kirk's eyes.

"I wish I knew. There was an attempt on Leonard, like you figured there would be. It happened just two days after your group left, but Pavel handled it beautifully. Leonard didn't even get a scratch. Then about two weeks ago, Pavel woke up and found Leonard staring at his PADD. When he noticed that Pavel was awake, he shut it down and went about getting ready for classes, but he's not the same."

"Not the same? How?"

"He barely speaks, never smiles. Pavel says he's pulled out a bottle on more than one occasion, but he just stares at it for a few minutes before putting it back away. He won't leave the campus and he's eating at the mess again like nothing ever happened. Like he doesn't really care if someone tries again or not. I can't even get him interested in a little sex."

Despite the problem, Kirk was amused by the last part of Gaila's description of symptoms. She couldn't comprehend anyone that would turn down sex.

"That doesn't sound right, Gaila. Just before I left, he thought he'd figured out where his current project needed tweaking. He was just waiting for the pay to go through to get the tool he needed. Or maybe that's it? Maybe what he thought was going to work didn't?"

Shaking his head, Kirk dismissed that thought.

"No, that wouldn't be it. I've seen him after a failed try. He usually gets even more into it instead of discouraged."

"Since I've known you two, I've seen Leonard exhausted, sick, drunk, wounded - but nothing like this. I've been holding out the hope that seeing you might snap him out of it."

Not caring who might or might not be watching them, Kirk gave the Orion woman a light kiss on the cheek.

"Let's go see what's going on, shall we?"

When Kirk activated the door to their room, he found Chekov sitting at the table, looking rather forlorn as he kept an eye on McCoy, who was lying on his bed with his eyes closed. It was impossible to tell if he was asleep or awake, but considering the time of day, Kirk decided to assume he was awake.

"Hello, Bones - I'm back."

"Hello, Jim."

Well, the assumption that he was awake was correct, but the flat tone of McCoy's voice had alarm bells going off in Kirk's brain. He recognized something of himself in that tone. Turning away from McCoy, he looked from Chekov to Gaila.

"Why don't the two of you go grab some food off-campus and bring it back? I could use something decent after eating from old Alpha-style replicators for over a month."

Once they were gone, he turned his attention back to McCoy.

"Alright, it's just us. What happened?"

"What happened? I listened to Pike. Hell, Jim - I should have just stayed where I was. At least I was resigned to it back then. Having eighteen months of thinking there was something better that I could try for just makes it worse now that it's gone."

"Gone? Why is it gone, Bones? There hasn't been a new test battery, so I know you haven't flunked out of any classes."

Moving slightly for the first time since Kirk had entered the room, McCoy reached for something on the shelf near him and tossed it to Kirk, who caught it neatly.

"Your credit chip? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Take a look at it. And don't even bother asking for my passcode. We both know you can hack into it faster than I can tell it to you."

Smirking at the sideways compliment, Kirk took the chip and had the information downloaded onto his PADD in just a few seconds. It took him a moment to comprehend exactly what he was seeing.

"What the hell is this, Bones? They screw up your pay?"

"Nope. From now on, I only get ten percent of what I earn."

"What happens to the other ninety percent?"

"The message is still on my PADD. You can read it for yourself."

Reaching over to where McCoy's PADD was resting, Kirk picked it up and turned it on. As McCoy had indicated, a message was still on the screen.

~Lennie - It took longer than I cared for to get the paperwork all taken care of, but I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that me and our baby girl will be able to live quite comfortably on your salary. I understand that Starfleet will provide you with meals and uniforms, so I suppose I can't really look forward to you starving, but I suppose knowing that everything you're working so hard for is coming back to me will have to be compensation enough. And no need to worry about upkeep of your old family home. Now that you're out of Georgia for good, Clay has moved in to help out and he is very good with his hands. Some of the credits from you are going to throw little Joanna a huge first birthday party in February. Maybe I'll send you a picture so you can see what she looks like. Can't wait until you graduate and more credits come this way. - Jocelyn~

The silence hung as Kirk read the message through a second time before turning to McCoy.

"Jocelyn?"

"I think I've always referred to her as the Witch or the Wicked Witch of the Southeast around you, Jim."

"But you're divorced - right?"

"Yeah. Looks like she found a way around that little detail."

"And you never mentioned a kid."

"You're a genius, Jim. Do the math. How long have I been here?"

"You just said it yourself, Bones - eighteen months."

"And how old is the kid?"

"Turns one in February. That's five months from now, so that would make her seven months old. So you've never even seen her?"

"Quite right, I haven't. Now, let's follow that back further. To have given birth to a kid seven months ago, Joce got pregnant about fifteen months back - sixteen on the outside."

"Ah. So then - there's no way that kid is yours."

"Nope."

"Damn."

"That sums it up."

"You aren't going to fight it?"

"Trust me, Jim - if I could get in and out of Peach County with my hide attached, I'd take care of things. But since I can't? I'm working to give that whore and her newest lover an easy life. Best I can do is flunk out and end up on bedpan duty so at least she doesn't get as much."

"Bullshit. The biggest problem is where she is, right? If she weren't entrenched in Peach County, you could take care of business?"

"Of course I could, Jim. What are you suggesting?"

Plopping down on the edge of McCoy's bed, Kirk had that barracuda smile flashing radiantly.

"Me? Nothing. I'm a sneaky bastard, but I have access to someone who appears to be the master of bastardness. We're going to him with this problem."

McCoy's eyes were not only open now, but wide.

"Pike? You want to take this to Pike? What happened to taking care of our own problems?"

Giving McCoy a pat on the shoulder, Kirk was already in the process of pulling out his communicator with his other hand as he answered.

"That's when it comes to Imperial stuff, Bones. When dealing with shit in the civilian community, you need someone who has clout in the civilian world. Neither of us have that yet."

Activating the communicator, Kirk spoke clearly.

"Cadet James Kirk to Captain Christopher Pike."

"Pike here. What is it, Kirk?"

"Sir, Cadet McCoy and I need to get some advice from you if you have a moment."

Pike looked up from his communicator and met the eyes of Puri, who gave back an immediate nod.

"Fine. Five minutes. Use the transporter code and make the destination my quarters. Pike out."

Tucking away his communicator, Kirk offered McCoy a hand.

"Upsy daisy, Bones. You've got five minutes to get presentable before we go."

As expected, McCoy grumbled, but complied. Kirk grabbed McCoy's credit chip and PADD to take along with them. At the five minute mark exactly, he reactivated his communicator.

"Cadet Kirk to Transport Central - authorization Zulu Echo Nine."

"Transport Central. Destination?"

"Quarters of Captain Christopher Pike. Two to teleport."

"Destination authorization confirmed. Stand by."

McCoy's eyes automatically closed as the teleportation began. When he reopened them, he restrained himself from letting out a whistle. Not that he had expected Pike to live anywhere shabby, but this was nice. Really nice.

Both Pike and Puri were already seated and neither bothered to get up as Pike waved them over, indicating the couch.

"Come over, have a seat and tell us what you need advice on."

Since Kirk was more at ease speaking to Pike, he told the details to the two officers. Puri's eyes were extremely cold by the end of the story and he quietly got up and left the room. Pike turned his head and followed Puri with his eyes until he was out of sight.

"I hope whoever signed that order on Leonard's pay wasn't anyone I make use of. Raj isn't going to leave much of them."

Seeing the questioning expression on the faces of the two cadets, Pike just smirked.

"Raj is openly McCoy's mentor now, remember? Pushing through any sort of official Starfleet paperwork without consulting him is an insult along the lines of a slap in the face. He never lets an insult pass. Ever. Something to keep in mind. Now, can I safely assume that one of Jocelyn's weaknesses is greed?"

Despite himself, McCoy snorted.

"Yessir - you can very safely assume that."

Puri walked back in at that point.

"Same admiral you've had a few issues with, Chris. We'll look into that later though. You and James going to be making the travel arrangements?"

"I believe we can handle that, Raj. You and Leonard can concentrate on the welcoming committee."

"Excellent. Leonard? Come with me."

* * *

It was approximately two weeks later that Jocelyn was getting off of a shuttle in San Francisco, baby in her arms and Clay Treadway by her side for 'emotional support'. It was more like he was there to nudge her if she started looking more like a gloating ex-wife than a sorrowful widow. It was really very thoughtful of McCoy to have a training accident. She liked to think that him being distracted by her message to him might have caused it.

She supposed, if she wanted to be fair, that it wasn't really McCoy's fault that he hadn't lived up to her expectations. Doctors were supposed to be wealthy, step into rooms to consult with their patients for a few minutes, collect their fees and then be free to spend their evenings traveling to Atlanta to socialize with their elegantly dressed spouses on their arm. She didn't sign up to be the wife of a surgeon, on-call more often than not. A man that came home smelling of blood and antiseptic and who had no desire whatsoever to spend what little free time he had hobnobbing with what he termed as a bunch of snobs.

"Mrs. McCoy?"

A nudge from Clay reminded her to respond to that. She had never allowed anyone to call her Mrs. McCoy even when they were still married.

"Yes, that's me. And you are?"

"Commander Rajinder Puri. I was sent to escort you to Starfleet Headquarters. This must be Miss Joanna, but I'm afraid I don't know your other companion."

"This is Clay Treadway - an old friend of the family."

Clay extended his hand and Puri took it.

"Nice to meet you, Commander. I hope there isn't a problem with me accompanying Mrs. McCoy."

"Not at all, Mister Treadway. In fact, I'm glad to see she has someone with her for support. If you will follow me, please?"

Puri kept up idle chatter during the ride. He knew from McCoy that Jocelyn wasn't familiar with San Francisco, but whether or not Treadway knew the area was unknown. Neither of them seemed to notice anything odd though as the drive took them to a set of mockup buildings used for team situational exercises instead of to the actual campus.

Gaila was waiting in uniform and snapped to attention, saluting as Puri exited the vehicle. Puri returned her salute sharply, then turned to Jocelyn.

"Ensign Gaila will take charge of Miss Joanna while we go over the details. Sorry, but children are not allowed in the main offices. Imperial mandate."

Jocelyn didn't hesitate to turn Joanna and the bag with her things in it over to Gaila. Gaila stayed in position until Puri had escorted the two inside, then took a minute to smile down at the young girl who was trying to reach for the red curls.

"Come along, sweetheart. You and Auntie Gaila are going to visit a DNA lab. Won't that be fun?"

The office Puri led them to was one with Pike seated behind an enormous desk. They were each directed to a chair and Pike gave them a somber smile after Puri did the introductions.

"So sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances, Mrs. McCoy, but I appreciate that you were willing to come here and settle the matter of paperwork. It seems that somehow, Doctor McCoy neglected to fill out his insurance distribution forms, but fortunately, we were able to go by the forms you recently submitted for support payments."

Making use of a lace trimmed handkerchief, Jocelyn made a dab at her eyes.

"That is so like Leonard, sir. He was a very dedicated doctor, but he tended to forget to attend to practical matters."

"I've found that to be the case with more than one genius in my acquaintance, Mrs. McCoy. Let's get this unpleasantness dealt with and behind us, shall we?"

The smile on Pike's face was slowly altering to the shark one that tended to give the recipient of it the shudders. He slid a official form across the desk to Jocelyn.

"Do you know what that is, Mrs. McCoy?"

She leaned forward and looked over the paper with a frown. It was long and looked highly technical.

"No, sir. I'm afraid I don't."

"That, my dear lady, is a list of the charges and punishments involved with falsifying an Imperial Starfleet document. Your divorce decree, the division of properties ordered by the court as well as the lack of a child mentioned in either of those documents are both part of McCoy's service jacket. So, who is the father of Joanna?"

Jocelyn's face had been shifting between flushed and pale, but her facial expression was stern when she answered.

"Joanna is a McCoy."

Laughter came from the doorway and both Jocelyn and Clay turned deathly pale as McCoy himself walked through the door with Joanna in his arms and an amused looking James Kirk behind him.

"She's right, Captain Pike. Little Joanna here is a McCoy."

Then he turned and laughed at Jocelyn.

"I know you were possibly in a rush, but you should really have paid better attention to what sample you stole from the hospital - you got yourself impregnated with the sperm from the wrong Doctor McCoy. Captain Pike? May I introduce my sister, Joanna McCoy?"

The only ones in the room not laughing at this turn of events were Jocelyn and Clay. They would have tried to leave, but the only exit was very thoroughly blocked by Kirk. Pike's smile was fully shark now.

"Doctor McCoy, as her older brother, are you willing to accept guardianship over Joanna while she is in her minority?"

"I'm willing to accept that responsibility, Captain."

Pike looked over his folder again, flipping slowly through one page at a time before looking up at Clay.

"All the charges here seem to be against the former Mrs. McCoy. If you like, you may leave now if you would rather than be part of these proceedings."

Ignoring the pleading look from his lover, Clay was out of his seat and headed toward the door the second Pike finished talking. Kirk just gave the man a lazy smile and moved out of his way. His screams began a minute later. Chekov was apparently going to take his time with that one.

Pike never acknowledged any of the noises coming from outside, but Jocelyn had lost what little color remained to her face and sat trembling before his desk. Puri had a slight smile playing on his lips. This was the sort of thing Pike lived for. Having someone in front of him knowing that their fate was in his hands and that he was unlikely to be merciful.

"You have been found guilty of knowingly falsifying Imperial Starfleet forms. As the injured party in this case, Leonard McCoy is awarded all of your worldly possessions - which seem to mostly have been his to begin with."

Pike shuffled through the papers again briefly.

"There will likely be a bit of a shake-up back in your home county as well. It seems some of your relations have been taking liberties with the law that the Emperor reserves for himself. If they are fortunate, they might get the opportunity to redeem themselves by serving on one of the colony worlds. As for you . . ."

Pike gave a side-glance to McCoy before turning his attention back to Jocelyn. McCoy passed Joanna over to Kirk, then pulled one of his hyposprays from his ever-present kit.

"You are sentenced to hard labor at the Deneva colony mines."

Jocelyn was so distracted by Pike reading out her sentence that she never noticed McCoy's approach until he released the contents of the hypospray's vial into her. Her voice was nearly to the level of a screech as she turned on him.

"What did you do?"

"Just a little something to remember me by. A little disease that Doctor Puri came across during his research that we haven't found a cure for yet. It can only be spread by sexual contact though, so the miners will be safe enough around you so long as they keep their body parts to themselves. It's a real slow progressing one. Woman your age? Might take ten to fifteen years to turn fatal. Give you plenty of time to enjoy life at the colony."

She raised a hand as if to strike McCoy, but found herself in the grip of two Security men that had come in at Pike's command. For his part, McCoy paid no further attention as his ex-wife alternated between cursing and pleading. He walked back over to Kirk and took the seven month old girl back from his roommate.

"Would you look at that, Jim? She's got the McCoy eye color."

"Cadet McCoy?"

"Yes, Captain Pike?"

"Until other arrangements can be made, your sister can stay on campus with you. You're both dismissed."

"Thank you, sir."

As Kirk and McCoy left the room, Kirk's voice could be heard.

"You have a really cute sister, Bones. I bet she's a real magnet for the female cadets."

Chuckling, Puri moved closer to Pike as Jocelyn was taken away.

"So tell me, Chris - are we going to help supervise the dismantling of the government systems of Peach County, Georgia?"

The smile answered Puri before Pike spoke.

"Of course. It should be the most entertaining show around."


End file.
